‘Spending Cuts’ Lose Something in Translation – Bloomberg
This seems like something people are missing.
Let’s look at some of the numbers. In 1998, the first time the federal government ran a surplus in three decades, outlays totaled $1.65 trillion compared with receipts of $1.7 trillion. For fiscal 2012, which ended Sept. 30, the respective numbers were $3.5 trillion and $2.4 trillion.
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For all of Obama’s insistence on raising top tax rates, the additional revenue he seeks doesn’t begin to solve the nation’s fiscal problems. By 2022, just three programs — Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security — will consume 54 percent of the federal budget, up from 44 percent now, Tanner said. And “the real explosion of entitlement costs takes place just outside the 10-year budget window.”
via ‘Spending Cuts’ Lose Something in Translation – Bloomberg.